Tuesday, June 10, 2014

My Gold Mask - Motion Lines -- Black Cat - Jun 9 2014

Motion Lines - I saw this band eighteen months back and made my frequent complaint of seeing a couple of decent musicians playing to sub-mediocre drum machine beats. That is all fixed tonight as they have three members and shift around a bit on instruments with the occasional drum machine used only when the drummer moves forward to sing or play keyboards. A bass is used at times and the guitarist has a nice array of sounds, so they have a lot more to offer this time around. There's is a rich and dreamy sound without frequent dynamic shifts, although when it happens, it does stand out distinctly. The mood is good and there were at least a couple of songs that had me take notice. They are doing well and are worth a listen some time again.
My Gold Mask - This Chicago trio has a lot of the same instruments and works the same general area as the openers, but is a bit more intense about it all. The female lead vocals are powerful with a slightly goth sense to the pop. It is some unholy combination of Siouxsie, Poly Styrene, and Deborah Harry. She also plays some percussion, although there is a stand up drummer and synth player handling most of the beats. The guitarist thickens the vocal works even more when he chimes in. Otherwise, he comes up with a lot of powerfully thick sounds. They sound surprisingly dense, yet the percussion is good in maintaining clarity throughout. Some of the songs are quite catchy and the crowd is digging it all well. Thankfully, this quiet Monday night crowd doubled in size, which resulted in 30-40 enthusiastic people. They made me smile more than once, no small task as I am severely in the midst of my pre-travel anxiety. If you like a more intense brand of electronic pop music, then give this band a look and listen.

Quote of the Night, or rather more quotes from Tom Hawking's '30 harshest musician on musician insults'. And it's a twofer tonight...

24. Courtney Love on Dave Grohl
“As for that drummer, well, he’s hit on me so many times. He’s just a very very conflicted guy about me, which is why he continually writes songs about me to hear he ‘hates’ me more than ‘anyone else.’ Kurt loathed HIM more than anyone else (except a journalist) … He’s just sub-mediocre kind of [guy] who does this ‘nice guy’ nonsense.”

23. Dave Grohl on Courtney Love
“She’s an ugly fucking bitch.”

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